Russell Wilson: Faith, Family & Football | Essence
The NFL champ riffs on his influential career, Black love and the belief system at the center of it all
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Before Wilson burst onto the scene, signal callers of color like Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick all dominated the field at one point—a fact that Wilson recognizes and respects. “I think about those guys before me,” he says. “But when I came into the league, there were only a few of us. It was Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, Colin Kaepernick, myself and a couple others.” By the end of his second year in the NFL, Wilson held up the Lombardi Trophy, becoming just the second Black quarterback to do so. While the win became an unforgettable personal accomplishment, it also marked a shift in the perception of Black men in his position.
“For me to be able to go to back-to-back Super Bowls, and win one of them, I think opened up a lot of doors,” he says. “Now you see guys like Patrick Mahomes who won it; it’s really just us so far, but there’s more to come.” The emergence of quarterbacks like Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud, to name a few, is indicative of a new era in football and a glimpse into what the sport is trending toward.
“What I love to see is guys getting drafted early, and that a lot of teams these days have Black quarterbacks playing for them,” Wilson says. “It’s all across the league, and it’s showing how the National Football League is starting to evolve, change and break down barriers. I think one of the biggest blessings of my career so far is that I’ve been fortunate to be able to open up doors for others, because of what others did for me.”
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